Murders spike on violent Sunday

Tuesday

Mar 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 19, 2013 at 9:38 AM

STOCKTON - Homicide detectives were busy processing two murder scenes after two women and one man were killed and three other people were wounded during a two-hour span on a bloody Sunday evening in Stockton, police said.

The Record

STOCKTON - Homicide detectives were busy processing two murder scenes after two women and one man were killed and three other people were wounded during a two-hour span on a bloody Sunday evening in Stockton, police said.

Two people attending a birthday party died following a drive-by shooting that occurred about 8:10 p.m. Sunday outside a home in the 1800 block of East Sonora Street near Stribley Park, police said. In all, five people were struck by bullets, including one man visiting a home two doors down on the normally quiet street of single-family homes.

The San Joaquin County Coroner's Office identified the man who died Sunday at the party as Juan Augestine Sarraraz Jr., 22. The woman who was killed, Juanita Julia Maldonado, 35, was pronounced dead early Monday at a hospital.

A third shooting victim was listed in critical condition in a hospital, according to police. A neighbor said one of the other victims who was shot in the leg was already out of the hospital and recovering from his injury. Police did not provide the shooting victims' identities.

Another neighbor, who declined to give his name out of fear for his safety, said a resident of the home was havinging a birthday party outside for about 15 to 20 guests, including several young children. A barbecue, lawn chairs and children's toys could be seen in the front yard Monday afternoon after police had finished their initial investigation.

After hearing several shots, the neighbor ran outside and described the scene as "total chaos. People running around everywhere, yelling, 'He got shot.' Kids running around asking where their parents were."

The neighbor, who did not witness the shooting, said he believed that a vehicle turned onto East Sonora Street heading west and an occupant first shot at a person outside one house, then fired again upon the group attending the birthday party two houses away before fleeing the area. Police would not comment on that scenario nor provide further details except to say they believe the shooting was gang-related.

Later, officers responded to a call of a disturbance shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday in the 700 block of East Clay Street, in south Stockton, where a man told police he killed his girlfriend, identified as Kelly Melissa Guerrero, 34, authorities said. When officers arrived, they found a woman dead inside the home. Police did not say how the woman died. Anthony Orosco, 36, was arrested on suspicion of murder, police reported.

The three people who died are Stockton's fourth, fifth and sixth homicide victims of 2013. Their deaths came days after the Police Department released figures showing a dramatic decrease in violent crime over the first two months of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, when the city set a record with 71 homicides.